Technically speaking, FC Dallas could certainly still have made the playoffs even without Saturday’s 3-1 win over Vancouver.

But what a huge three points Schellas Hyndman’s team earned in the win at FC Dallas Stadium (which will get a new name on Tuesday, as the club announces a naming rights deal.)

Mauro Diaz, a young Argentine attacker who signed last month and scored in his MLS debut against Portland, expertly timed a run into the penalty area. He met Fabian Castillo’s centering ball and crushed an 86th minute game winner.

Everyone will talk about Jair Benitez’s goal of the week candidate three minutes later, an insurance goal on the hot Texas night. But it was Diaz’s goal off the bench that means so much, as FCD vaults ahead of Vancouver, from a sixth-place tie with the Whitecaps to fourth place (temporarily, pending the late LA Galaxy-Colorado Rapids result.)

The Whitecaps have now lost all four matches at FC Dallas Stadium.

Both teams scored early as messy defensive work saw Diago Kobayashi finish Kenny Miller’s good work along the right for Vancouver, and then saw Ja-Vaughn Watson take advantage of Nigel Reo-Coker’s inexperience at right back on the early equalizer.